9. Gargolyes and Griffins
 

A multitude of gargoyles haunt the medieval buildings of western Europe, peering down from churches and cathedrals, houses and town halls.  Clinging to edges and ledges, these projections - carved of stone in the form of people, real animals, or fantastic beasts - mark rooflines, corners, and buttresses, enhancing the picturesque quality of a building's silhouette.  When the sky is clear, gargoyles may merely glower from the towers - but do not stand below them on rainy days!
The true gargoyle is a water spout, an architectural necessity, that medieval artisans transformed into functional fantasies.   The idea was adapted from the Greek architects that often placed terra cotta or marble lion heads on the roof cornice.  The ancient Egyptians used animal-shaped stone waterspouts as did the Etruscans. 
The English word gargoyle comes from the French form gargouille meaning "gullet" or "throat" which refers to the draining purpose.  The German Wasserspeier describes what the gargoyles appears to do;  he is a "water spitter."   People often apply the word incorrectly to grotesque figures not used for drains.   The correct word for figures of that kind is chimeras.
The witty stonemasons of the Gothic period often used gargoyles to portray their patrons or colleagues in grotesque form.   The results were often rude and rowdy characters.
Some gargoyles were apparently  for religious instruction, but some were simply grotesque.  One reason for this is the belief that frightening figures could scare away evil spirits, and they were put on the outsides of buildings to do just that.  Many people have researched into the meanings behind the gargoyle figures but their opinions are as varied as the figures themselves.

The griffin or gryphon is a mythical quadruped with the foreparts of an eagle and the rear, tail and hindquarters of a lion.  Its eagle-like head had pointed, upstanding ears like those of an ass. Feathers grew upon its head, neck and chest and the rest of the griffin’s body was covered in leonine fur, subtly colored in shades of tawny brown. Aelian said the wings of griffins were white and their necks were variegated in colour with blue feathers. The griffin claws were especially valuable as they were reputed to change color in the presence of poison, which is why they made useful drinking vessels.  At times, it is portrayed with a long snake-like tail. In some traditions, only the female has wings. Its nests are made of gold and its eggs resemble agates. It is supposed to be of gigantic proportions, the morphology being left to our own deduction after we have been informed that one claw is the size of a cow's horn.

There are a number of different types of griffins;

the snake-griffin has a lion’s body, a snake’s head and a bird’s legs;

the lion-griffin is lion-like but has hind legs shaped like those of a bird.

The hippogryph, living far beyond the seas in the Rhiphaean Mountains, is the result of the rare breeding of a male gryphon and a filly. It has the head, wings and front legs of a gryphon, and the back and hind legs of a horse. It is a large powerful creature that can move through the air more swiftly than ligthning. It figured in several of the legends of Charlemagne as a mount for some of the knights. The Hypogriffin is a mix of a griffin and a horse.

10. Dragons

Let's first look some of the earlier stories about Dragons. The very first "written" stories (that we have uncovered so far) on the creation of the world is from the Sumerian civilization generally in the area we call Mesopotania. This area which later became Persia and then part of various Middle East civilization is generally found between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq and Iran.
The actual word "dragon" comes from the Greek language much later than this time so any mundane interpretation of creatures by this name before the Greeks must be by descriptions and attributes and not by name. They were generally considered "monsters" even if they had divine attributes.
The very origins and foundations of the entire Mesopotamian culture comes from the stories, culture, and ethics of these Sumerians. The later civilizations of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and then Grecians all got much of their philosophy, cosmology, and religion from the earlier stories/ myths of the Sumerians so it behooves us to first look at these early very early stories and pay particular attention to them.

In fact so many of the stories sprout the same type of general story line that we can actually divide them into two categories; Gods versus monsters (dragons) before creation and heros versus monsters after creation. Later versions of the stories often change the names of the parties about but maintain the basic story line. Is it possible that all these stories came from a single source and was later simply adapted, adopted, and some elements changed to suit the civilization telling it? This is a possibility to be considered about these first stories. Many later dragon stories will also be changed in the same manner by different areas or countries but with the same original tale.

The earlier myths often have a god, usually a storm god or a god armed with thunder and lightning bolts, chasing a dragon that has something to do with water. Examples are almost all of the Mesopotamian stories, the Indian god Indra, both Chinese and Japanese myths, the Mayan Rain Gods, the Egyptian sea dragon/serpent Apophis and pursuer Re, and even many early Semitic stories.

From the very start Dragons were seen as guarding treasures, holding back the floods, and dispensing knowledge. They also are battled by gods or heros from the very beginning. In many cases stories from the Sumerians were borrowed and slightly changed by the preceding civilizations. These same stories were very similar in content but with the actual names of the participants changed.